Brunswick’s new offense will center around quarterback Nick Horton (3) running the flexbone to Zach Snyder (34), Marc Davis (11) and Jordan Sadler. (RON SCHWANE / GAZETTE)
The 1978 Van Halen song “Runnin’ with the Devil” never had more meaning for the Brunswick football team.
History will be made on multiple levels tonight in Granger Township, where the Blue Devils will play neighboring Highland for the first time since 1986 and the gridiron christening of North Gateway Tire Field is getting most of the hype.
Brunswick wants to crash the party because of something it is itching to unveil as well: The triple-option-based flexbone offense.
Call them the Georgia Tech Blue Devils or Brunswick Midshipmen all you want. Frankly, they don’t give a darn.
“Brunswick’s known for being a smashmouth football team, running hard and playing until the whistle,” fullback Zach Snyder said. “For this offense and for this team, it’s a really good way to show what Brunswick football’s all about.”
In the offseason, sixth-year coach Luke Beal began searching for a new offense after his team graduated key players such as quarterback Steven Ficyk and All-Ohioans Gary Clift Jr. (WR) and Tom Knuff (OL). A five-wide, pass-happy philosophy didn’t fit the personnel anymore, and Beal was dead set on a long-term solution.
After Beal went to the lab and dissected his options, he came to the conclusion the flexbone was the perfect choice. If Hilliard Davidson could win a Division I state title using it, why couldn’t Brunswick successfully run the same offense?
After all, the Blue Devils had a rugged, run-first quarterback in Nick Horton (6-foot, 190 pounds). They also had a strong-legged fullback in Zach Snyder (5-11, 190), speed with Jordan Sadler (6-0, 200), Marc Davis (5-7, 165) and Jacob Martin (6-1, 185) and a smaller, quicker offensive line.
Beal then went to school. He studied Georgia Tech and Navy, two of the three teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision that run the offense. He watched online clinics. He picked the brains of colleges coaches from Capital and Muskingum. He got a hold of game film from high school counterparts from as far away as Louisiana.
Beal has gone all-in betting the flexbone will work.
“We’ll see a lot of spread, quarterback-run offenses, and that’s something a lot of people are ready to defend,” Beal said. “(The flexbone) is something that is a little more unorthodox and it’s a little more difficult to prepare for than some of those other (spread offenses).
“We didn’t just want to experiment. We wanted to go with a system that we knew if you install it the correct way, it’s going to work.”
What is the flexbone, exactly? A mad-scientist formula of part wishbone, part wing-T and part run-n-shoot, the base formation with two slotbacks, two wide receivers and a fullback was brought to prominence by Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry in the 1980s.
Paul Johnson then took over as unofficial ambassador and has won 165 games in 19 seasons while posting gaudy rushing statistics at Georgia Southern, Navy and Georgia Tech.
The flexbone is exciting for players and fans alike because so many things can happen on the same play.
On one snap, the fullback bulldozes up the gut. The next, the quarterback fakes the fullback dive and takes off unabated. Don’t forget about the trailing slotback ready for a pitch after his pre-snap motion, either.
The sexy-looking triple-option play — oftentimes called the veer — is only called approximately 25 percent of the time and can take time to develop. Quick-hitters such as tosses, dives, counters and options via leaving a defensive tackle unblocked (aka the midline option) are otherwise used to keep tempo varied.
“It’s not just a slow-down, hand-off-to-the-fullback-and-beat-people-up offense,” Beal said. “With any offense, you want to get the ball to your best players in space. This allows us to do that.”
Offensive linemen love the flexbone as well, mainly because their hands are in the dirt and bodies are leaning forward. Attacking and not reacting is the mentality.
While Brunswick still boasts the largest offensive line in Medina County (243-pound average), the flexbone allows smaller linemen to succeed. Most key blocks involve beating a defender to a spot instead of driving him off the line of scrimmage.
Guards still need to be bulky because they often are required to create the initial hole for the fullback, but the tackles and center need to be quick to reach linebackers in a hurry since one defensive lineman is left unblocked on nearly every play.
Fans should get used to seeing the big fellas running downfield because fumbles are bound to happen with such an aggressive philosophy. They should get used to seeing opposing D-lines sucking wind, too.
“I was surprised because it was new, but I knew that the coach makes the right decisions that are best for the team,” tackle Eddie Conway said. “It’s a faster-tempo offense and it’s good for tough, smaller guys that like to be smashmouth. That’s how I am, and that’s how the rest of the offense is.”
There’s that word “smashmouth” again. Players love the testosterone associated with it, but classifying the flexbone as a 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust offense would be a fatal mistake.
With so much potential ballhandling on a single play, defenses must tone down aggressiveness in favor of sticking to individual assignments religiously. The slightest mental breakdowns lead to monster gains.
The Blue Devils are banking on the opposition not taking them — or the flexbone — seriously. They’re also confident enough to not fall into the us-against-the-world trap.
Why? Because the “Read ’em and run” era has arrived.
“We have some things in store for teams,” Snyder said. “I think they’ll be surprised.”
Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com.